Friendship
by muhnemma
Summary: Five themes, five friends of Keladry of Mindelan.


**Neal**

**Distant**

He can't help but wonder at the look in her eyes whenever he talks about his latest love. It's as if she's imagining herself to be somewhere else whenever he recites his newest sonnet.

**Tears**

Safe in a private room after their return from Scanra, he watches Kel finally break down and dissolve into a fit of sobs. He pulls her into a tight hug and cries alongside her.

**Fear**

When he notices the way Dom's eyes follow Kel so intently, fear of what the ladies man might do to his best friend leads him to draw Dom aside and speak a few unfriendly words.

**Love**

He never thought he could feel such a rush of love for someone ordering him to eat his vegetables.

**Desire**

He fervently wishes he hadn't told Kel about his crushes and desires during their page years. When he's being stubborn, she has a habit of casually suggesting that Yuki might like to hear about them. Yamani mask be damned, the smile she wears during these times is decidedly wicked.

**Cleon**

**Distant**

Friends ask how he managed to break through the untouchable Yamani mask. He smiles and taps his nose, silently telling them he knows a secret he can never reveal, but wonders to himself whether he will ever really know what Kel feels.

**Tears**

In the depths of the Chamber, his mouth opens in a silent scream and tears trickle down his cheeks as a bandit thrusts his sword into Kel's chest.

**Fear**

The thought of the marriage already arranged for him is never far from his mind, ready to pull him into a swamp of fear and doubt.

**Love**

He knows that in time he will come to love his wife. She's intelligent, beautiful and kind. But she's not Kel.

**Desire**

The weight of his desire for her is almost suffocating. There are so many things stopping him from relieving the pressure: the constant stream of friends acting as chaperones, the unattractiveness of consummating their love in a shadowy corner, his conscience.

**Raoul**

**Distant**

Preparing himself to talk to Kel about sex and pregnancy, he wishes he was somewhere far, far away. Scanra and Carthak don't seem quite far enough. The Black God's realm might be suitable.

**Tears**

As Kel emerges from the Chamber, pale and trembling but a knight, he blinks back the tears that suddenly spring to his eyes.

**Fear**

Raoul thought that he had used his supply of terror up in the Immortals war. Then he heard that Kel intended to cross the border of Scanra alone.

**Love**

Heart in his throat as he watches her fly from her saddle, he wonders when he began to love Kel like a daughter.

**Desire**

It's widely assumed that he takes Kel as a squire because he desires her, and she pays for the favour in his bed. He desires only to give a squire with a lot of potential the chance to become a talented knight.

**Alanna**

**Distant**

Furious with Jon for putting Kel on a probationary year, she keeps her distance from the capital for well over a year.

**Tears**

She sheds a lot of tears over Keladry of Mindelan years before she meets her. Most of the time they're tears of pride.

**Fear**

One of her greatest fears is that Lord Wyldon will dismiss Keladry after her probationary year. Her other greatest fear is exactly what the punishment would be should she kill Lord Wyldon.

**Love**

The children, especially Aly, are sometimes jealous of her love for Kel. She tells them that she loves them more than anything in the world, and they are satisfied until she begins to sing the praises of Kel's latest accomplishment.

**Desire**

Her greatest wish is for the girls of the realm to understand that they can fight, that they aren't helpless. This is beyond her; she is a God chosen hero, untouchable, unreachable. Where she fails, Kel succeeds.

**Dom**

**Distant**

For a long time he doesn't understand why it hurts him to see Kel ride in the opposite direction, assigned to a mission he can't join.

**Tears**

Standing at the bedside of an injured, unconscious Kel, he swipes furiously at the dampness on his cheeks.

**Fear**

The first time he realises he wants more from Kel than friendship, more even than a night in her bed, he is terrified.

**Love**

He falls in love with her the first time he breaks through her Yamani calm. It's such a small compliment he pays her, but her cheeks flood with colour as she looks at him shyly through her long eyelashes.

**Desire**

Watching her practice with her glaive, he realises how beautiful she is. She moves with a fluid grace, almost dancing with the deadly weapon. When she finishes she plants the glaive firmly on the ground and, with a small frown, asks him why he's looking at her so strangely.


End file.
